Tim Grobaty: Celebrating the new at the old rancho

RANCHO CERRITOS NUEVO: Sometimes we write about Long Beach history as if the town popped out of a moonscape, fairly fully formed from the imagination of William Willmore or, even more fully formed, out of the later development work of the Bixbys.

That's what we noble Westerners tend to do: Kick things off with the initial incursion of the intrepid Westerner. Balboa discovered the theretofore unbeheld Pacific Ocean. Columbus discovered the previously unpeopled New World.

The land that would blossom into Long Beach was, in fact, home to Native Americans thousands of years before J-Rod Cabrillo sailed into the smoky local waters in the 16th century, declaring this glorious region and its peaceful Tongvan inhabitants to be ruled by Spain.

Time passed. The happy little Tongvans were taught about the baby Jesus and became happy little mission Indians, renamed the Gabrielinos, and the land that would become Long Beach became a gift of 300,000 acres bestowed by the Spanish government upon a Spanish soldier named Manuel Nieto as a reward for his service in the military.

Time passed some more and Nieto's heirs subdivided the land, and part of that subdivision included the "Ranch of the Little Hills," or, in the more melodic language of the settlers, Rancho Los Cerritos.

Ripping more huge chunks of pages out of our datebook, we get to John Temple, a New Englander who bought Rancho Los Cerritos from the last of the Spanish heirs. Temple built a home there in 1844, planted some trees and raised cattle, tens of thousands of which died in a drought, prompting his retirement, upon which time he sold the spread to a company that included Lewellyn Bixby and his cousins Thomas and Benjamin Flint in 1866. The men decided sheep were more profitable than cattle, and brought in Lewellyn's brother Jotham to run the 30,000-head sheep farm until 1881.

Live sheep didn't make much more of a profit than dead cattle as the 1870s dawned, so the Bixbys subdivided the rancho. Besides Long Beach, the cities of Lakewood, Paramount, Bellflower and Signal Hill were established on the former Tongvan-Gabrieleno-Nieto-Temple-Flint-Bixby land, though the rancho's headquarters and buildings and gardens remained.

That brings us, exhausted and up to our neck in calendar pages, to this week, as the extensively fixed-up Rancho Los Cerritos, at 4600 N. Virginia Road, shows off its restored arroyo and new adobe visitor's center with a half-dozen events, beginning today with with a 7 p.m. lecture, "Rancho Life, Rancho Lives," by William Deverell, USC history professor and director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West. He'll talk about the cultural, economic and social significance of the ranchos and highlight the lives of some of the era's key people. Admission is $5. Call 562-570-1755.

On Thursday, Rancho Los Cerritos will stay open late, till 7 p.m., to allow guests to get a good look at the new visitor's center. You can see the center's exhibits, view an orientation film and take a guided tour of the 1844 adobe house with one of the Temples, Bixbys, workers or guests of the past, as portrayed by rancho docents.

On Friday, guests can enjoy a 7 p.m. performance of "Visitors From the Past," as actors once again portray important figures from the rancho's history in an outdoor setting.

Admission is $12 and includes dessert. Reservations are required. Call 562-570-1755.

The big bash of the week is the rancho's Grand Opening Festival, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, when you can stroll the grounds and buildings amid enhanced exhibits, costumed docents, storytellers, a historic fashion show, live music, historical theatrical performances, children's activities and more.

At 10:30 a.m. Sunday, you can celebrate both Mom and rancho with a Mother's Day champagne brunch in the historic gardens of the rancho. Also on hand will be some of the moms from the rancho's past. The brunch is $35; $25 for children 10 and younger. Reservations are required. Call 562-590-1755.

Also on Sunday, at 5:30 p.m., you can enjoy the jazz tunes of the Susie Hansen Latin Band under a canopy of the trees at the rancho. You're urged to bring a picnic dinner and a lawn chair and blanket. It's free, and the adobe house will be open for tours during the concert.